Excepcioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A formal objection or protest raised against a claim ; a case or instance left out of a general rule
2. An objection lodged in law or argument against something ; the act of leaving someone or something out of a rule
3. A protest or objection put forward against an assertion ; an exemption that removes a particular case from a general rule

Etymology: Before it meant a case that breaks a rule, this noun was a legal term for a plea that stops a claim. Its Latin source, "exceptio", came from "excipere", meaning "to take out", built from "ex-" ("out") and "capere" ("to take"). A medieval defendant who raised an "exceptio" was not denying the charge outright but pulling a specific point out of the case that would defeat it. This spelling, with "-oun" and the "c" before "e", is Middle English, the form English speakers used before the modern spelling settled. It came into English through Old French "exception", which had taken the Latin word over more or less unchanged. The general sense of something set apart from the rule followed from the legal one: a thing taken out of a larger group.